BULLETIN: After a securities investigator emailed a “program” admin for information in 2008, the state of Oregon systematically destroyed the carcass of a collapsed 2X2 cycler in a months-long probe that exposed a secondary scheme, according to records.

Kristopher K. Keeney, a recidivist offender with a P.O. Box in Milwaukie, Ore., presided over InC, also known as “I need Cash,” and a partnered in a secondary scheme known as “My Financial Miracle,” the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services said. The InC “program” was promoted on TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and other Ponzi scheme forums, according to records.

“Not only are pyramid schemes illegal in Oregon, they are destined to fail as they inevitably run out of people to recruit,” said David Tatman, administrator of the department’s Division of Finance and Corporate Securities. “Consumers should always be wary of offers promising high returns or guaranteeing that you cannot lose money.”

Keeney has been fined $345,000, a figure that represents more than three times the known $95,000 take of the scheme, which affected 221 investors in the United States between May 2007 and August 2007, according to records. Officials said he sold securities without a license, sold unregistered securities, lied to investors and “violated a previous agreement with the Oregon Department of Justice, which had prohibited him from promoting a similar multi-level marketing scheme involving charitable entities.”

State filings also reference a third entity known as “Abundant Gold Club,” which became “aligned” with InC in 2007, the state said. Abundant Gold Club also is referenced in InC pitches on the Ponzi boards.

“In Keeney’s pyramid scheme, investors paid $275 for one spot on a matrix and then were required to recruit others to fill a total of seven spots,” the state said. “Once the matrix was filled, the investor would receive a return of $825, of which $275 was automatically reinvested into a new matrix.”

On May 31, 2007, a MoneyMakerGroup poster made this claim about InC.

“THIS WILL EXPLODE FOLKS…A good 2×2 will make tons of money for tons of people… AND…This is IT!”

Records in Oregon suggest the InC scheme went belly-up in only months, and that members were told in September 2007 that the Michigan Attorney General had moved against the firm.

An Oregon investigator, however, contacted Keeney by email more than a year later — in December 2008 — and requested “information about the investment opportunities with InC,” the state said.

“Keeney responded to the DFCS Investigator by stating that he is ‘able to offer 10% per month to those looking for steady growth of funds,'” the state said.

“When further information was requested by the DFCS Investigator, Keeney provided information on My Financial Miracle . . . In information provided to the DFCS Investigator, Keeney stated that MFM can, ‘with 100% certainty,’ provide an investor $1,000 a month for 12 months, two years after the investor provides him with $200.”